Sail-Back “Superstar”

In 2012, Patrick Keating and his dog, Kitty, teamed up to make an incredible fossil discovery on a Nova Scotia beach on the Northumberland Strait. What they found in rocks along the shore was the rib cage, backbone and partial sail of a sail-back amphibian – the first ever discovered in the province. Patrick gave the fossil to his brother, Peter. Peter and his wife, Peggy, together with their four children (Thomas, Benjamin, Lilly and Grace) brought the fossil to the Nova Scotia Museum to be identified. Less than a week after his initial discovery, Patrick and his wife, Susie, along with their son, Zachary, hit the fossil jackpot once again. Susie found the skull of the sail-back amphibian and all three discovered the impression of the animal in a cliff face. Exceptionally well-preserved, this 290-305 million-year-old sail-back “Superstar” from the Carboniferous Period may well turn out to be a new species – the research is still ongoing.